It was a challenging year for companies the likes of IG Port¹ for the fiscal year of 2018 to 2019 as change of consumer behaviour as well as the ongoing trade war between the United States and China including the rise of cost of doing business have all attributed to certain losses incurred by the company. This includes the reorganization of company’s assets such as the transferring of IG Port’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Xebec’s production operation to Sunrise and the merger of the studio into Production IG as one of the few steps taken by IG Port² to mitigate and to improve the company’s performance. Anime News Network did a great coverage with regards to the Xebec’s transfer and merger into Sunrise and Production I.G, you can have a look at them here.
Production I.G, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of IG Port, Inc.
The group has cited that the Animation industry has continuously proven that it is a tough nut to crack and the situation has worsen with the TV viewership continues to plummet. In addition, the decline in sales of video packages has also hampered profit making. The group has opined that this could be attributable to Japan’s ongoing birth decline and changes to customer’s preferences that have become more diversified over the years. Coupled with a shrinking publishing market, IG Port has also cited that sales of electronics comics have slowed down due to piracy though situation has recovered after a famous pirate site, Manga Mura was forced to shut down.
Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 Part 2 (or Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2) was done by Wit Studio a subsidiary of IG Port, Inc.
The company and its subsidiaries have produced 7 TV Animation works³ for the fiscal year of 2018 – 2019. Although sales have gone up to $54,529,965 (up 28.9% from the previous year), the cost of CG production and outsourcing have continue to increase. And as the production period has also become longer, some work have failed to turn into profits. As a result, the group has amounted to an operating loss of $4,956,022 for the fiscal year (down from the previous year where the group recorded an operating loss of $6,316,134).
On the side of the group’s publishing business through its Monthly Comic Garden, 12 works were published with a total of 91 publications which includes comics, novels and original guidebooks. Sales for bookstore distribution were sluggish however, revenues from e-books has increased. Sales were down 27% from the previous year to $11,658,145, consequently the operating income nosedived 65.8% to $1,213,998 for the fiscal year.
Mahoutsukai no Yome (or The Ancient Magus’ Bride) was also done by Wit Studio a subsidiary of IG Port, Inc.
As for the copyright business, sales for The Ancient Magus’ Bride has finally settled down but, the depreciation of assets have increased to $4,060,085 from the previous year. Sales for this business were down 18.5% from the previous year to $13,358,449 while sales for magazine illustration and character products together with smartphones’ applications were $2,093,086 down 27.5% from previous year. Operating income was at $20,369 down 84.9% from the previous year.
As a whole, the group has recorded a total sales of $81,639,278 up 5% from the previous year with a net loss of $2,176,164.
Notes
1. IG Port, Inc. is the parent company of Production IG (100%), Wit Studio (66.70%) and Xebec (100% before the merger)
2. IG Port is a listed company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, ticker symbol 37910.
3. Birthday Wonderland, Psycho-Pass: Sinners of the System, Koutetsujou no Kabaneri Movie 3: Unato Kessen, ULTRAMAN, Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3, Future Card Shin Buddyfight and Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru
Sources:
Securities Report – Fiscal Year Ending May, 2019
Tokyo Stock Exchange Filing Concerning Xebec
Anime News Network